Mary Holz-Clause has been appointed chancellor of the University of Minnesota Crookston, pending approval by the University’s Board of Regents in May.

Holz-Clause has served as dean of the Huntley College of Agriculture and as a tenured professor in the Department of Agricultural Business Management and Agriculture Science at California State Polytechnic University Ponoma since 2014.

As dean, she oversees a student body of more than 2,000, 150 faculty and staff and five departments.

“I am confident Mary will be a tireless advocate for the University of Minnesota Crookston, and her skills as a fundraiser, marketer and communicator wills serve the campus well,” University President Eric Kaler said in a statement.

Before joining Cal Poly Ponoma, Holz-Clause was vice president for economic development at the University of Connecticut where she created an Office of Economic Development and oversaw the development of the UConn Technology Park in Storrs, Conn.

“Going forward, we’re definitely looking forward to working with both the campus community as well the regional community in Crookston and the Grand Forks area to see if there are natural ways we should be growing,” Holz-Clause said.

She also worked for 25 years at Iowa State University before her tenure at UConn. In California, she was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to serve on the California Department of Food and Agriculture Advisory Board.

She said her time in Iowa included working to create entrepreneurial startups and looking into ways the school could be an economic development tool to the area.

“I look forward to putting some of those same strategies that I’ve done at other places at work in the Crookston area,” she said.

University regents are expected to vote on the appointment at their May 12 meeting.a